Lips Sealed
by Rokutagrl
Summary: She wants to tell you, but she never will. One-sided Shinooka/Abe, a bit more than a mention of Abe/Mihashi.


Title: Lips Sealed

Disclaimer: Christmas has come and gone. I don't own Oofuri in any respect.

Author: Rokutagrl

Characters: Shinooka, Abe, Mihashi

Pairings: One-sided Shinooka/Abe, Abe/Mihashi mentioned at the end…

Warnings: Technically a spoiler for Chapter 59, but it doesn't amount to much plot wise…except for this story! Bad writing, messing around with the P.O.V (it's second person in present tense, although Abe is the second person, but the focus is on Shinooka…).

A/N: A late New Years story I've been working on, but only in the small amounts of free time I actually have XD

----

The first time she sees you is on the field while carrying equipment into the shed. Softball practice has just come to an end and as a first year it is her duty to help clean. You're there talking to the coach, but the only words she hears is, "Seniors." She's curious, having never seen you before, but she knows the seniors are a big deal in the world of baseball. Are you that great of a player?

She wonders all this—and maybe it sticks in her mind that you're rather attractive—instead of watching where she's going so it's only partially shocking when her foot rolls over a stray bat. She and all the equipment drop to the floor in an unceremonious heap of limbs, gloves, and metal bats.

"Are you okay?"

You're leaning over her and pulling away balls and gloves without a second thought. Her face feels hot, but she hopes you think it's from the summer wind and not the quickening of her pulse.

"Did you hear me? I asked if you're all right?" You don't seem angry, just a little frustrated. Secretly she hopes you're concerned for other reasons than her display of clumsy behavior.

"I-I ahm. I'm Shinooka Chiyo," although she thinks about changing her name to 'stupid, stupid, stupid.'

Until you smile at her and chuckle as though she hasn't just made a fool of herself.

"Yeah? I'm Abe Takaya. I saw you playing earlier. You're pretty good at shortstop, Shinooka-chan."

It makes her uncomfortable, this odd bout of happiness from just your words. Your display of concern, and maybe it means too much that you even notice her at all. She asks if you really are going to the seniors, and in your first year of middle school! And when the answer is in the affirmative she can't help but gush about how amazing that is and what that means for your career.

Shinooka doesn't leave the field until long after the sun sets because you're engaging and kind, and most of all cool. Plus you both share a great affinity for high school baseball. She mentions her dreams about becoming an equipment manager someday, and you laugh at the irony that she's still covered in various baseball objects.

She doesn't think it will help if she tells you her heart started for the first time that day.

----

A year later she sees you in the halls. For the first time you're alone and don't appear too busy.

She watches you. She comes to your games sometimes and sits in the stands. Even though your temper is bad on occasion, you're amendable behind the plate and maybe she's cheering the loudest.

Do you ever hear her? Do you look up and see her sitting there, waving her hands and shouting? Do you ever think it's all for you?

Maybe not, but she also doesn't feel like saying it either. Because even though you're cool when she's just talking to you, or watching you laugh with your friends, you're so much more than that on the field catching those pitches she can hardly see whirl by. It makes her heart beat faster against her rib cage and her hands clasp together. Her body relocates to the edge of her seat—

You do this to her. Even now she's trembling and happy all at the same time just because you're walking towards her. Not even looking at her.

But she looks up anyway and calls out your name before you can walk right by. You look confused and she fusses with what exactly she can say to keep you from leaving.

"A-abe-kun! I, uhm, I was wondering… How's the seniors going?"

You grimace at the question and she wonders if it might be the way she just stuttered through it. Instead you say, "I'm paired with the worst pitcher."

She tries not to ask how that can be; she's seen that 'worst pitcher' and even though he leaves the mound far too quickly and his control is a bit off she really admires the way in which he throws. She's even taken extensive notations on his habits and sheets of the games he's played. But asking anything like that would be like admitting to watching you and that's something she doesn't want to do yet. So she just nods and tells you to hang in there. It will be okay.

You agree that you won't be giving up any time soon.

And ask how she knows your name and about the seniors. She tries not to let you see the disappointment on her face.

----

Shinooka's just finished her high school exams, but she doesn't know where she wants to go just yet. There are some acceptance letters on her desk at home and some rejections in the trash. Nishiura is at the bottom of her list because it doesn't have a hardball team, so she can't really become a manager like she wants to. Plus it has one of the longest commutes on her list. But it is easy to get into and they might be giving her a scholarship.

Now that the test has let out she thinks she'll check out the field. Nishiura is known for their softball league and their soccer team, among other types of sports.

It's a long hike from the main campus, but Shinooka likes the field, even though it's small and doesn't have all that much going for it. The fences have some holes and there aren't any pitching machines. Also she doesn't think there's much 'regulation' going on out there. Heck, there's barely an infield under all the weeds, and not even a mound.

"Hey! Shinooka-chan, right?" The voice is familiar and she recognizes the boy as Sakaeguchi from her third year class. She greets him back and asks if he was also there for exams.

"Yeah…" he doesn't look all that comfortable about the subject and squirms slightly. "Actually I was just here with Abe-kun. Abe Takaya, from Class 2, if you don't know him."

She nods because it doesn't actually doesn't mean much at all, because she does know you more than she actually /should/. Sometimes it even scares her, the things she has learned throughout the years. She could write a book, or a score sheet, what have you… but what else does a girl in love do?

"If we get in we we're thinking about starting up a regulation hard ball club here! It's going to take a lot of work, but if we get enough people interested it might be sort of fun!"

He stares at the field intensely, and then gives her a kind smile. "We even talked to one of the teachers and he's really eager. Already has a coach in mind so if he says 'yes' we'll come back during Spring Break and help clear the field before Orientation.

"I'm really excited." She can tell. In fact she thinks satellites are picking up on the enthusiasm he's exuding all over the place.

But it's contagious and Shinooka really hopes that it turns out to be the case.

Because she now knows exactly where she wants to spend the next three years.

----

Shinooka makes her way to the practice field after a long day. The Soccer Club had been really intent on all future members attending to go over every detail of the upcoming year. Orientation was proving to be tiresome all on it's own. People at Nishiura really seemed to be going all out.

She just hopes she has that much energy, too, because she'll need it playing sports, cleaning, and helping out Nishiura's new baseball club. If they're really going through with the season, that is. And hopefully nobody else has shown up offering her services.

No one could be a better manager than Shinooka, and that isn't just pride talking. She knows all the teams, she can cook, she loves every ounce of the game enough to spend nights studying every piece of information, and she has the energy to work harder than ever before…she thinks.

As she walks through the gates she can only count four heads of possible players and two adults, but they're all smiling and that must mean everything is going well. She spots the coach in the corner holding a sweet little dog upside down like it's his newborn baby. She tries not to giggle at the silly image as she builds up her courage to walk over, and then presents herself in a bow.

"My name is Shinooka Chiyo and I would like to be Nishiura's Baseball Club's new Manager! If you'll have me…"

"Ah," He says intellectually, looking over his bridged nose and grinning strangely. "It's nice to meet you, Shinooka-chan. I am Shiga-sensei, this club's advisor. You'll want to talk the coach, over there."

He points behind her where a tall brunette is standing, looking in their direction at having heard Shinooka's declaration.

She's smiling in a conspiratorial manner, but Shinooka isn't all that sure as to why.

"Shinnoka-chan, was it?" She asks as she approaches them and proffers a hand. "It would be great to have a manager for the team! I'm the coach, Momoe Maria. We're a team of all first years so we'll be needing a manager who can cook, clean, and take care of ten growing boys!"

She's energetic and sincere, so Shinooka is certain they'll get along well. She just can't help a small bit of prejudice float through her mind at the prospect of a female coach. She's never seen one before, or read about it, but she reminds herself not to judge people based on their appearance. Even if she's slightly frightened Momoe might tip over from the excess weight…

So she agrees to everything Momoe lists, and even adds things she's capable of accomplishing, as well. The coach seems very pleased and finally asks if she can volunteer her time on Golden Week for a little training camp. That's about the time you come out of the clubhouse, running a towel through your spiky hair and muttering something about pitchers.

Her heart is skipping in her chest. Can you hear it? Momoe might, standing next to her and all, but whether she does or not she won't say.

Shinooka hides behind the older woman so you can't see the way her face is heating up.

"Coach? Did you really think it was worth it to hit him with the bat?"

Hit? Bat? Shinooka decides maybe behind the coach isn't the best place to hide and instead toes her way to the suspicious looking man on the bench. He has the dog, after all.

"Hey Abe, I want you to meet our new manager!" Momoe motions toward Shinooka and it seems like the first time you notice her on the bench.

You remove your hat to show respect, "Thank you for your time!" She buries her face in the fur of the red animal rather than return your greeting. She can't deny that it might have moved her just a bit.

"We've got a manager already!" Sakaeguchi sounds incredulous as he also joins the group. That's about when he notices her sitting there trying to hide behind a poor, small creature.

"Shinooka-chan! That's right you used to play softball in middle school! You're going to be our manager, now?" She nods. "Looks like everything is coming together without a hitch!" He enthuses, but then adds, "Well almost no hitches," at the sour look on your face.

"You know each other?" You ask looking back and forth between the two. She wonders if the coach can also hear her heart shattering in her chest.

"Shinooka went to the same Middle School…" Sakaeguchi looks a little off put by your lack of knowledge, but he never seems to stop smiling.

You raise an inquisitive eyebrow, but then lower it offering a half smile instead. "You do look really familiar. And it's great you have some experience with the game, Shinooka-chan."

It's not much, but it is a start.

----

She wants to tell you.

Everyday you're together on the field; her eyes rarely leave your form. Every shout, every catch, every glower, every laugh sets her heart aflame. She has never felt this way before, and fears that maybe she may never again. What is she supposed to do with all these overflowing emotions?

They tickle her lips and burn the roof of her mouth, but she still cannot fix herself to mention any of this to you.

She wrote a letter once that conveyed everything you ever needed to know. She came close to actually leaving it in your shoebox before your match against Tosei. At the very end, though, she chickened out.

If you knew, what would happen? Would you accept her feelings and fall into a happy ever after? Or would you reject her?

It was the last response that made her hand pull back and her heart throb tightly in her chest. If only you knew about all the unsaid things in her mind, in her heart, then maybe you would hate her. Or at the very least walk on eggshells through the field and around practice.

That can't be. She won't let it happen. It's better this way, when she can have fun watching you play the game. Cheering right beside you and with you instead of lowering her head in shame because of everything she is afraid to say.

You won't even take your eyes away from the controlled pitcher, twitching as though someone might jump up behind him and whack him on the head. …Or steal the mound. You're too involved with helping your friend, than to even think about her in the least.

It's for your sake, and for her own, that despite the pressure to let those words escape she'll hold them back instead. It's the least she can do for you.

You make her feel.

----

Five years is a long time to have you on the mind. Shinooka knows because you're still all she ever thinks about. Your name is always on her tongue, and when she's writing the stats she takes special care in crafting every character.

But now it doesn't matter since third year has come and soon there won't be time for sports and fun. After the New Years Party the two of you might never have to meet again so she resolves it is finally time to be brave and make that final leap.

It's now or never because her lips are chapped from more than just the nippy air. It's all the 'almosts' and 'maybes' that go with unrequited emotions.

Even though she wants to tell you—and it has to be tonight—you are nowhere to be seen. She's made this her New Years Revolution after all; you can't try to loose weight you don't have every time.

She asks Oki who wonders if you ever showed up, and Hanai swears you came looking for the pitcher not twelve minutes before. Tajima confirms that he just saw you two leaving out the front door, talking something about going to the convenience store.

So she grabs her coat, barely hearing Mizutani ask where she was going so swiftly. In fact she doesn't stop her persistent power walk until much farther down the road when her breath catches in her throat and limbs start to feel as though they might tear from their sockets.

The store comes up in her field of vision (she'll never trust Tajima's perception of time again as long as she lives!), but she doesn't see you right away. Not until she passes the bike racks and finds you sitting beside Mihashi on the corner. Neither of you are all that aware of her existence, besides you seem far too intent on listening to the garbled mess the neurotic pitcher can't seem to spit out.

But no matter what Mihashi needs to say, she has to buckle down and tell you before the butterflies in the gut of her stomach threaten to weigh her down. She's been waiting day—years—for the moment she can hear your answer and now is /almost/ the perfect time—

"A-abe-kun—" You turn only slightly at the squeal of your name.

"I-I LIKE YOU!" But you're not as interested as much anymore, because Mihashi stole the words right out of her mouth (or rather, the words she would have eventually worked up to).

Now there are three people standing on the sidewalk, all starring between each other and red in the faces. You can't seem to decide who to look at, or which emotions to show dominantly. You seem to settle on flustered, and Shinooka wonders if that's what her face looks like, too.

That, and absolutely mortified. That's how she feels, walking in on another's confession. One from a boy to another to boot!

"HAPPY NEW YEARS!" Comes the muffled shouts from inside the store and the very few people on the street. But Shinooka sees no one but you—the boy she's been in love with since her first year of Middle School—and Mihashi the still scrawny pitcher she never gave a second look towards.

Who could predict such a situation?

This is wasn't exactly how she expected to spend the first minutes of the New Year.

"I-I'll…GO!" Mihashi breaks through the awkward silence, jumping from your side and stumbling away into the dark. You don't even spare her a second glance as you chase after your pitcher, shouting his name all the way.

It isn't as though she can't see you ten seconds down the road, holding his hand and dragging the sheepish boy somewhere out of the way.

But she doesn't have to see your face to realize you're probably smiling.

Days later at school the girl's gossip about your strange bond with the pitcher because after all you seem like more than just "teammates." Someone in math class states they saw you two walking home, hand-in-hand on New Years Day, and another adds you were with him the next day, too.

When Shinooka walks to class on Monday still nursing her broken heart, they turn on her asking for anything she might know. They ask if you're both hitting for the opposite team, and what a waste that is if it were true!

So she tries not to cry when she laughs and lies, "I don't really know anything about them personally…"

You don't have to worry, her lips are sealed.


End file.
